HELPERTHORPE. 215 



HELPER/THORPE. 



[xli. 3. p. 191.] 



The skull c Helperthorpe, xli. 3/ is one which, except for 

 a certain asymmetry in its parieto-occipital region and a certain 

 wall-sidedness in its lateral temporal regions, might have passed, if 

 we were not acquainted with its archaeological surroundings, for a 

 modern skull. The curve described by its mesial antero-posterior 

 contour from the moderately developed supraciliary ridges to the 

 middle of the superior squama occipitis is much more equable than 

 is usual even in dolichocephalic skulls; and the comparatively 

 small development of the frontal sinuses and supraciliary ridges 

 makes us hesitate in ascribing any of the retreating of the frontal 

 region to the commencement of senile gravitation-changes. The 

 difference between the fronto-postremal length and the fronto-inial 

 length, measured in this case to the commencement of the linea 

 nuchae mediana, which is distinguishable from the external occipital 

 protuberance, is only y 1 ^" ; and the dolichocephaly of the skull 

 depends upon the length of the parietal bones ; the length of the 

 parietal arc, 5'$", being more than half an inch over the average, 

 whilst that of the occipital, 4-6", is identical with it. The mastoids 

 are large, the jaws orthognathous, the lower jaw well formed, lying 

 evenly on a horizontal plane, with a bifid mentum, a long coronoid, 

 and a square angle. The nasals are saddle-shaped, the nose in life 

 may have been, judging from the rise of these bones distally, a 

 ' Roman ' one ; but at any rate it must have differed from the all 

 but Grecian profile given to the Celtic face in the Ms grave 1 of 

 Rimini, a work of art of probably the fifth century B.C. 



In the norma verticalis this skull presents a bluntly oval contour, 

 remarkable for very considerable asymmetry 2 on the right half of 

 the parieto-occipital region, due probably to the mode of carriage 



1 See Frontispiece to 'Ethnogenie Gauloise, par Roget Baron de Belloguet,' 1861 ; 

 Sambon, • Recherches sur les Monnaies antiques de I'ltalie,' 1870, p. 71. The backward 

 position of the ear in this figure is nearly as clear an indication of its having been 

 intended for a representation of a brachycephalic head as the tore round the neck is 

 of its having been intended for a Gaul of early Roman history. 



2 For a discussion upon the mode of production of such asymmetry, see note, pp. 

 176, 177, supra ibique citata. 



